Daniel Alagille (24 January 1925 – 8 November 2005) was a French physician who specialized in pediatric hepatology, the study of childhood liver diseases.

Biography

Alagille was born in Paris in 1925. He was educated at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

and then worked at the

University of Paris-Sud Paris-Sud University (French: ''Université Paris-Sud''), also known as University of Paris — XI (or as Université d'Orsay before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, in ...

, becoming a full professor in 1971. Alagille directed a pediatric hepatology unit at

Bicêtre Hospital The Bicêtre Hospital is located in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It lies 4.5 km (2.8 miles) from the center of Paris. The Bicêtre Hospital was originally planned as a military hospital, with constru ...

in Paris for many years before retiring in 1990.

Alagille syndrome Alagille syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects primarily the liver and the heart. Problems associated with the disorder generally become evident in infancy or early childhood. The disorder is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, and t ...

is named for him, as he had first described the condition in 1969. He recognized that a number of his patients with

bile duct A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile, and is present in most vertebrates. Bile is required for the digestion of food and is secreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct. It ...

problems also suffered from problems in other body parts, including the heart and face. Alagille established the initial criteria for diagnosing the syndrome. Alagille served as editor-in-chief of the ''Revue internationale d'hépatologie'' and the ''Archives francaises de pédiatrie''. He was received into the French National Order of Merit in 1967 and the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 1988. With his former trainee and colleague Michel Odièvre, he wrote the first textbook of pediatric hepatology, ''Maladies du Foie et des Voies Biliaires chez l'Enfant'' (''Liver and Bile Duct Diseases in Children''). In 1994, he became the third recipient of the Andrew Sass Kortsak Award from the Canadian Liver Foundation. Alagille died in 2005 following heart surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alagille, Daniel 1925 births 2005 deaths French pediatricians University of Paris alumni